Reconsidering the normative foundations of public health: market vs. social justice

Abstract

This paper explores a classical liberal foundation to public health. In doing so, it discusses theory and evidence on how individuals, markets, and economic freedom improves health outcomes; it anticipates objections related to market failures; and develops novel public health policies that can be used to improve public health outcomes. Classical liberalism, or what some refer to as market justice, centers its system of justice on property rights because of the beneficial outcomes related to economic activity. Importantly, classical liberalism provides under explored and novel public health benefits, namely the production and sale of health-enhancing goods and a limit to the potential abuses of dysfunctional, centralized public health bureaus.